For the media

CBS Airs UT Study On Shroud Of Turin (180)

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — University of Tennessee research on the Shroud of Turin will be featured April 1 on a network television special.

Research by Dr. Randy Bresee, a UT-Knoxville textiles professor, will be explained on “The Mysterious Man of the Shroud” scheduled to air at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

Some believe the image of Christ was left on the shroud when it was draped across his body. Until the UT work, scientists had not been able to recreate the image, Bresee said.

Bresee and Dr. Emily Craig, a former UT medical illustrator and forensic anthropologist, and Dr. David Joy, a UT electron microscopy specialist, published proof in 1994 that the shroud could be a forgery.

The UT team used powdered ingredients, primarily dried juice of the aloe plant, and a procedure known as carbon dusting to recreate the shroud image. They tested their results with methods used to examine the original shroud, including scanning electron microscopy, 3-D computer analysis and X-ray spectroscopy.

The shroud was displayed in 13th century France and enshrined in 1694 in Italy’s Royal Chapel of Turin, where it remains.